Cap and Downer

In response to a family obligation
I recently attended a high school graduation
Young people in high spirits
Were the order of the day
It was bracing to be near it
I heard many of them say

“We, so honored to graduate this year
Face a turbulent world, yet face it not with fear
We’ve come a long way
Since those first days in ninth grade
Our heads held proudly when we say
From adversity we did not fade”

They issued forth many now familiar platitudes
Bestowing upon friends and family the usual gratitudes
Like a gambler who’s calling in all debts
Each speaker marked their checklist down
They’d paid their dues and won the bets
Now armed with diploma, cap and gown

Then amidst hand clapping and rousing cheers
I strangely found my eyes wet with tears
Drifting back I turned the page
To a hot summer day in ‘74
When a gangly kid walked across a stage
The world by the tail, nothing less, nothing more

The world was my oyster, or so I’d believed
Now understanding, I’d been self-decieved
Like surely some who stood before me now
I faced tomorrow both naïve and unafraid
Success was surely in the bag somehow
Despite a lack of focus and plans never made

And so through cloudy, misty eyes I sat and watched them bask
Whilst behind, with gears a-grind, I slowly took myself to task
“Perhaps this is why,” my ‘Id’ said to I,
“You dread high school graduations”
Then drawing a deep breath with imperceptible sigh
I reminded my tormentor of family obligations

Now the ceremony’s concluded with smiling family and friends
And the part of my brain that tortures me so offers his amends
As I leave the arena, the celebration behind me
Happy tears fall on satin flower petals on the floor
I return to the world of my lamentable reality
Hopeful for the graduates yet still reminded of ‘74